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2009-10-20 04:09:04
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter by Dennis Thompson
healthday Reporter Sun Oct 18, 11:48 pm ET
SUNDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Just about every month -- if not every week
-- a new study emerges touting the health benefits to be gained from a daily
glass of wine or a pint of dark beer.
The benefits related to cardiovascular health have become well-known. A study
released in mid-July, for instance, found that moderate alcohol consumption
reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in women by increasing the amount of
"good" cholesterol in the bloodstream and reducing blood sugar levels.
But other studies have linked a daily drink, most often wine, to reduced risk
of dementia, bone loss and physical disabilities related to old age. Wine also
has been found to increase life expectancy and provide potential protection
against some forms of cancer, including esophageal cancer and lymphoma.
But don't invest in that case of Pinot noir just yet.
Experts with the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association say
that though these studies do show some benefits to moderate drinking, the
health risks from alcohol consumption far outweigh the potential rewards.
Drinking any alcohol at all is known to increase your risk for contracting a
number of types of cancer, said Susan Gapstur, vice president of epidemiology
for the American Cancer Society. These include cancers of the mouth, pharynx,
larynx, esophagus, liver, colon/rectum and breast.
"At the end of the day, if you are at very high risk for cancer, you might want
to limit your alcohol consumption even further," Gapstur said. "It's a
lifestyle modification you can make, and we don't have as many lifestyle
modifications for preventing cancer as we do for coronary heart disease."
There also are other health risks from moderate drinking, including liver
damage and accidents caused by impaired reflexes, said Dr. Jennifer Mieres,
director of nuclear cardiology at the New York University School of Medicine
and an American Heart Association spokeswoman.
The health benefits from drinking generally are related to the antioxidants and
anti-inflammatories found in red wines and dark beers, Mieres said, but those
substances can be found in a number of different fruits and vegetables.
"When it comes to disease prevention, you're better off changing your diet to
include fruits and vegetables and get your antioxidants and anti-inflammatories
from natural sources," she said.
For example, people can get resveratrol -- the antioxidant found in red wine
that's believed to provide most of the drink's health benefits -- from drinking
grape juice just as well as from drinking wine, Mieres said.
"For people that don't drink, not drinking is important," Mieres said. "You can
get the same benefits of drinking from leading a heart-healthy lifestyle. To
me, it's not worth the risk to start drinking. But for people who enjoy a glass
of red wine or enjoy drinking, the key is to stick to the definition of
moderation," she said.
Moderate drinking is defined as one drink a day for women and two drinks a day
for men. What counts as one drink are:
Drinking anything more than that on a daily basis is known to lead to a host of
health problems that can reduce your life expectancy, Mieres and Gapstur said.
"I think the take-home message is, if you don't drink, don't start to help
protect yourself from coronary heart disease because there are so many other
things you can do," Gapstur said. "If you already drink, you might want to
limit your consumption."
Though the studies touting the positive health effects of alcohol are
scientifically accurate, they also appear to play into people's desires for
quick fixes to complex problems, Mieres said.
"To prevent heart disease, 50 percent of the work has to come from you," she
said. "Prevention is a big piece, and you have to be accountable. You have to
make lifestyle changes, and that's very tough to do. People look for easy ways
to get heart-healthy benefits, and drinking is an easy way to do that. It's a
known human tendency: Let's find an easy way out that doesn't involve a lot of
thought or work."